Leopard Gecko Care Advice Needed!

[Cherry02]

Hello!
I just recently got a new leopard gecko, and while I owned a leopard gecko for 7 and a half years before (my other little guy passed away this spring), there are some things that are different and I have a few questions. It's a little female named Cherry, she's at least 12 years old, and she seems to be quite healthy. She's in an 18-by-18 inch terrarium with sand for substrate with moss in one corner. I had reptile carpet for my previous gecko, so I have no experience with sand. Is there anything really important I should know about it? How do I keep it clean? I also fed my other gecko with tweezers (I also adopted him from someone else - that's how they fed him), and he wouldn't eat crickets (he ate mealworms), so I'm not sure exactly how feeding goes either. From the looks of it, Cherry had mealworms available in her feeding dish for whenever she wanted them, and she'd get crickets about once a week. So if she got 10 crickets a week, plus the mealworms, would that be enough? (She's not a super big gecko). Also, with having the mealworms in the dish all the time, I'm not sure how to give her calcium powder. Can I just dust the mealworms/crickets with it or is it bad to have the powder in her tank?
Also, because she is a female, is there anything I should know about that - cycles or anything? Her owners didn't mention anything about that.
Thanks so much!
Jessie

 

[acpart]

Congrats on your gecko. Though there are people who have successfully kept adult leopard geckos on sand, there is always a danger of impaction and it's far from the geckos' natural habitat. Consider removing the sand and replacing with coco fiber and/or ceramic tile. Some people favor areas of each kind to give more choices, though I have done fine with ceramic tile. When you figure out where the gecko likes to poop, put a small bathroom tile there and you can just lift up and clean off the tile.
Sometimes geckos can overdose on the supplement if it's left in the cage. Your best bet is to put the crickets you're planning to use in a deli cup, sprinkle in some calcium (hopefully with D3) and shake. you can sprinkle the supplement on the mealworms as well. If there's no male around and she's never laid eggs, she probably won't. Some female leopard geckos don't eat so much in late winter/spring because they're ovulating.

Aliza

 

[Cherry02]

As far as I know, she's been on sand for about 10 years, and she seems fine, but I definitely will keep an eye on her. I do have reptile carpet I can use if there's any issues.
That's good to know. My other gecko had times where he wouldn't eat as much so that won't be an issue. Thanks for the advice!!